Leisure/Arts

‘Game of Thrones’ season 7 premiere: The four biggest shockers

Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) is here to reclaim the throne, in “Game of Thrones.”

By

SareneLeeds

When it comes to “Game of Thrones,” it’s always a good rule of thumb to expect the unexpected.

But in Sunday’s Season 7 premiere on Time Warner Inc.’s
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HBO, titled “Dragonstone,” audiences were thrown for a loop before the first strains of the series’ unmistakable theme song hit their ears. Those sudden turns continued on until Daenerys Targaryen and her fleet of ships landed in Westeros at long last, making the final scenes featuring the Mother of Dragons the only really predictable moments of the entire episode.

The key to unpacking how this season is going to go (we think), is by focusing on the four shocking developments that went down in “Dragonstone” that could end up changing the game permanently.

As already mentioned, “Dragonstone” didn’t even wait for the opening credits to make it pointedly clear that little Arya Stark is now a vicious killer capable of murdering every person responsible for the Red Wedding in one fell swoop. Forget about confusing those loyal to House Frey — her use of Walder Frey’s face as her disguise initially tricked the “Game of Thrones” audience into thinking this was either a flashback, or worse, that last season’s killing of the Red Wedding mastermind was all a dream. Thankfully, it wasn’t. While the Westerosi houses are busy fighting among themselves, I wouldn’t put it past Arya to slither in and take the Iron Throne for herself.

The man known as the King of the Iron Islands has reappeared in King’s Landing in the form of Cersei Lannister’s newest potential ally. “Unlike the Freys, [the Greyjoys] have ships, and they’re good at killing,” Westeros’s newest monarch dryly explains to her brother, Jaime. But it’s not so much whether or not Euron can offer the muscle the unpopular Cersei so desperately needs that makes him so vital to the narrative: It’s looking like Euron is poised to drive a wedge between Cersei and the man she’s loved more than anyone, including her own children. Yara and Theon Greyjoy’s uncle presents his “two good hands” (a sick burn directed toward Jaime) and 1,000 ships in exchange for Cersei’s hand in marriage. Although she declines, her unending quest for power may ultimately change her mind down the road, especially when Euron returns to King’s Landing with the mysterious, unnamed “gift” he promises Cersei.

Bran Stark’s greenseeing and that “R+L=J” revelation is so last season. Now it appears Sandor Clegane, aka the Hound, has his own mystical abilities and can see visions through the one element that serves as his greatest fear. While seeking shelter with Beric Dondarrion, the Hound cements himself as a crucial player in the impending White Walker battle when he sees a “wall of ice” in the fire, with “the dead marching past.” The Hound has a complicated relationship with fire — it’s the reason for his gruesome facial scars because when he was a young boy, his brother Gregor (aka the Mountain, and Cersei’s bodyguard in King’s Landing) inexplicably shoved his face into a burning container of hot coals. Sandor has harbored a fear of fire ever since — and a hatred for his brother.

Why else would “Game of Thrones” relegate poor Sam to so many seasons of drudgery if he wasn’t destined for absolute greatness? The fact that he is reintroduced to audiences doing a nightmare version of college work-study — the man is reduced to cleaning out every chamber pot in the Citadel — has to mean that he holds the answer to defeating the White Walkers, right? Fortunately, Sam’s archmaester mentor, played by Jim Broadbent, enjoys dispersing White Walker wisdom while extracting organs from open cadavers, which can’t be all for naught. Especially when Sam makes a major discovery about Dany’s final destination of Dragonstone and insists on getting word to his old chum in the North, Jon Snow. As if that weren’t enough, it’s evident that Sam is also going to forge a connection to Dany via a Citadel prisoner with a familiar-sounding voice and a greyscale-ridden arm (Psst! It’s the Khaleesi’s onetime adviser, Ser Jorah Mormont.)

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